Judiciary

By Gregory Poling Those closely following the situation in the South China Sea have been wringing their hands about the military potential of China’s unprecedented island building work over the last year. This anxiety is understandable, and the expanded patrol…

By Renato Cruz de Castro The 2012 Scarborough Shoal stand-off between the Philippines and China was the proverbial tipping point caused by China’s pattern of protracted, aggressive actions against the Philippines that began two years earlier. In mid-2010, the Philippine…

By Joshua Simonidis The military junta that seized power in Thailand in May has set up a number of institutions to reform Thai government and society as the generals deem necessary. These new institutions are often opaque, as are their…

By Zachary Abuza There are currently at least 22 bloggers or journalists behind bars in Vietnam. Freedom House and Reporters Without Borders recently gave Vietnam the lowest rankings in Southeast Asia in terms of internet and media freedom. The Committee…

By Jay L. Batongbacal As the December 15 deadline for China to submit a counter-memorial in the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) Annex VII arbitration case launched by the Philippines passed, the more significant and unexpected…

By Priscilla A. Tacujan Philippine prosecutors charged Marine Pfc. Joseph Scott Pemberton on December 15 with murder in the killing of a Filipino transgender, Jennifer Laude. Pemberton was stationed in the Philippines for a joint Philippine-U.S. military exercise when this…

By Carl Thayer In a statement Thursday, December 11, the Vietnamese foreign ministry spokesman Le Hai Binh said that Hanoi has asked the Permanent Court of Arbitration at The Hague to take Vietnam’s legal interests and rights into consideration…

By Gregory Poling Beijing is fast approaching a December 15 deadline to submit its defense in the arbitration case against its South China Sea claims brought by the Philippines. That case, brought under the UN Convention on the Law of…

By Nigel Cory Malaysia’s opposition People’s Alliance coalition has been put to the test this year. Prominent members have been charged with sedition in a surge of cases against government opponents and academics. It has lost every 2014 by-election in…